In many ways, Delhi's property market is an accurate reflection of the city's character-bustling, mercenary, unpredictable and flagrantly violative of the law. Perched close to the top of the local power edifice is the Delhi Development Authority (DDA). It is, simply, the world's largest realtor, controlling 60,000 acres of some of Earth's most expensive real estate and representing an enormous empire of patronage.

As vice-chairman of DDA, Subhash Sharma, 57, was among the most influential officials in India's capital. After 33 years in ias and a carefully cultivated image of "cleanliness", he was at the pinnacle of his career.

ARRESTED

UNITED WE FALL: Vast discretionary powers of land allotment mean that senior DDA officials can favour whom they want, at a price they want. Sharan (top) and Sharma (middle) let the IAS fraternity down, while Kapoor (below) got arrested a second time.

On March 26, all that changed. At 1.30 p.m., Sharma left his office at DDA's headquarters in central Delhi-never to return. Later that afternoon, a team from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrived. It sealed and searched Sharma's office, then turned its attention to his house. By evening he had been charged with accepting a bribe. On April 3, he was arrested. Said CBI Special Director U.S. Mishra: "The arrest followed Sharma's detailed interrogation and verification of certain facts that had come up during investigations."

Sharma wasn't alone in the dock. Keeping him company was Anand Mohan Sharan, 37, a 1990 batch IAS officer and till March 26 DDA's commissioner (land). His post-a previous incumbent, R.S. Sethi, had also been investigated by the CBI after the Central Vigilance Commission recommended a huge penalty against him in October 1996-is a potential goldmine for a corrupt officer.

The commissioner (land) is responsible for selling land, sometimes at discounted rates, for institutional, residential and commercial purposes. As commissioner (land), Sharan's ability to dole out favours was almost unquantifiable.The cbi found Rs 36 lakh in cash at his house. The collective seizure from the homes of Vijay Risbud, DDA's commissioner (planning), and Jagdish Chandra, director (land), was Rs 4 lakh. Found hidden in Chandra's Toyota Qualis was another Rs 4 lakh.

While Sharma and Sharan lost their jobs, so did P.M. Singh, chairperson of the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC), caretaker, as it were, of the 43 sq km city that Lutyens built. In November 2002, Singh had succeeded Sharma as NDMC chief. The two are said to be "very close".

One piece of the jigsaw was still missing. Depending on whom you want to believe, Dharamvir Khattar is either Sharma's best buddy or principal tout. He is also the man Sharma, as NDMC chairman, bent the rules for, allowing him to build a banquet hall in Chanakyapuri, one of Delhi's best addresses. Khattar is absconding but is, really, the key to the scandal. In essence, the CBI says, Khattar was liaising between senior DDA officials and construction syndicates. After the March 26 crackdown, CBI registered two cases, both of which had Khattar in a leading role.

The first scandal involved DDA and DLF Universal, one of Delhi's oldest building companies. DLF owned plot E1 in Jhandewalan, central Delhi, and sought to double the permitted floor area ratio (far) to 300. This meant, it could double the number of floors on the plot, or double the built-up area. According to conservative estimates by DDA officials, it would have resulted in a windfall of at least Rs 20 crore to DLF. In return, CBI says, DLF executives agreed to pay a Rs 1.1 crore bribe, with Rs 50 lakh to go to Sharma as an advance. Khattar was to be the conduit. DLF has denied the charges.

CBI officers say they overheard Khattar telling a DLF interlocutor on the telephone, "Paise jaldi pahuncha do (Deliver the money quickly)." The money turned up on March 10. On March 17, Sharma signed the relevant DLF file, put before him by Sharma and Risbud.

The second case involved Sharma, Chandra and Khattar as well as one Ashok Kapoor, a suspended DDA official who now functions as a full-time "facilitator". At stake was land that had been allotted to the north Delhi-based Modern Public Education Society (MPES). Four acres had remained unused by MPES. As per the rules, DDA cancelled the lease. Kapoor spoke to Khattar on behalf of the school's owners. It was agreed that the cancellation order would be revoked for a "service fee" of Rs 3 lakh.

On March 1, the CBI watched as Kapoor delivered the revocation order and collected Rs 2.5 lakh in cash from Amritlal Kapoor, a member of the MPES management. By then, plans for the March 26 raid had been sewn up.

The Sharma affair shook the higher judiciary as well. A day after the raids, Shamith Mukherjee, a Delhi High Court judge, resigned. He told the press he had done so because his wife was unwell. The CBI had another version. In Khattar's office, it found court papers relating to property cases Mukherjee was hearing. A link was immediately made. The Union home secretary and the chief justice of the Delhi High Court were duly informed. Soon after, Mukherjee put in his papers.

Since nothing in Delhi is autonomous of politics, there are some who wonder if Sharma is paying not for his corruption but for his proximity to Madan Lal Khurana, the state BJP unit president. When he became Delhi's chief minister in December 1993, the first file Khurana signed pertained to the appointment of Sharma municipal commissioner. Later Khurana is said to have lobbied hard with Urban Development Minister Ananth Kumar and Delhi Lt-Governor Vijai Kapoor, ex officio chairman of the DDA, to get Sharma his most recent job. Khurana, however, denies having known Sharma at the time he became chief minister. "He was appointed at the behest of the then lieutenant-governor," he says. "But yes, he had a reasonably good reputation. I am shocked by his arrest. You cannot trust anyone these days."

Amid personalities and politics, it is easy to lose perspective. The larger point is: should the DDA, a relic of the socialist raj, be allowed to perpetuate scandal? Since 1957 it has had a monopoly on the development and sale of all realty projects in India's capital.

Today, apart from providing substandard homes to a million families, it controls 5,100 acres of green land, is landlord to 12,000 industrial units, 500 shopping malls, 24 community centres-some which include cinemas and hotels-and has the discretionary power to allot land to a whole host of categories, from businessmen to institutions.

In October 2001, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had complained of the DDA's "rampant corruption". K.J. Alphons, a former DDA commissioner (land), says, "By the very nature of the DDA's mandate, there is bound to be corruption. A commissioner of land has unlimited powers." So, should the DDA exist at all?

Sharma and Sharan are behind bars. Risbud and Chandra, the magic men, are still in office, explaining the nuances of Delhi's master plan to their new vice-chairman, Suman Swarup. On the streets of Delhi, the DDA is still loose-and dangerous.